Confucius’s Analects is an innovative textbook for teaching and learning Chinese language and culture at the advanced level. It combines classical and modern Chinese language skills, Chinese culture, and expository and narrative writing practice.
Confucius's Analects is a central work of East Asian intellectual history that permeates Chinese and East Asian thought and values today. Students seeking to develop advanced language proficiency need to be familiar with the Analects in order to understand the wealth of literary allusions that appear in modern as well as classical Chinese writings. A selection of 82 passages, which are all educational and practical for present-day students, are grouped thematically into four parts—knowledge, morality, wisdom, and government—and covers Confucian teachings from personal cultivation to social contribution.
Features:
• A quadrupled text system includes quotations from the Analects, modern Chinese translations of these passages, short essays of exegesis that elaborate on the major points, and historical Chinese stories that illustrate the theme
• Vocabulary expansion sections show how monosyllabic classical words have each expanded into ten selected modern bisyllabic words
• Almost 300 idioms and corresponding exercises teach their rhetorical value and provide cultural exposure
• Sections on function words help students to understand classical Chinese
• Extensive writing practice in each chapter includes debate, composition, storytelling, and topical research—all requiring internet research
• Audio files of recitation of the Analects passages by a native speaker are available online for free
Designed for students who have studied Chinese for three years in college or an equivalent, this textbook is ideal for students of advanced Chinese, classical Chinese, and Chinese culture. Knowledge of classical Chinese is not a prerequisite.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
User's Guide
Part One: Knowledge
1. Learning the Way
Porridge Cakes
2. Love for Learning
Lamp of Fireflies
3. The Four Prohibitions
A Doctor-Traveler
4. Inferring by Analogy
Tones of the Zither
5. The Ultimate Joy
The Plum Blossom Painter
Part Two: Morality
6. Filial Piety
Grandma and the Office
7. Righteousness and Profit
The Promissory Notes
8. Three Introspections Daily
Critics of an Emperor
9. Strength in Adversity
A Determined Historian
10. The Long Journey
Death of a Premier
Part Three: Wisdom
11. Self-Reliance
The Taste of Gall
12. Three Beneficial Friends
The Slashed Mat
13. Words and Deeds
Talking in a Big Game
14. Advancing and Retreating
World and Island
15. Careers for Scholars
A Statesman of Four Reigns
Part Four: Governance
16. Governing with Virtue
A Palace without a Terrace
17. Sovereigns and Subjects
Three Visits to a Strategist
18. Exemplary Leaders
The Flying General
19. The Upright above the Crooked
A Tattooed General
20. Economy and Education
The Emperor's Dictionary
Appendix
English Translation of the Analects Passages
Indexes
Reviews
"Confucius's Analects is an excellent textbook that fills a critical gap. It is culturally rich, and provides a useful approach to teaching Chinese with the combination of modern and classical Chinese. The book also provides a creative stance at utilizing classical Chinese, historical idioms, and ways to expand vocabulary."—Kai Li, East Asian Studies Program, Oberlin College
"As students start Chinese learning earlier than in previous decades, many of them reach the advanced level half way through their college years if not sooner. An efficient textbook is needed for them to not only enhance their linguistic competence but also to probe into the Chinese intellectual tradition and cultural values to prepare them to be sophisticated communicators in the language. Zu-yan Chen's Confucius's Analects is tailor-made to meet this need. Adopting entries from the influential classic,(Lúny), as its main text, this book is also supplemented by essays written in modern Chinese language on relevant topics to further elucidate the significance of the main text. Furthermore, the author uses both sets of texts to systematically introduce Chinese idioms, which were derived from traditional Chinese wisdom but widely used in modern Chinese language. The materials are well organized and precisely glossed. Most remarkable are the clearly guided exercises—including making use of the learned words and idioms, answer questions, writing compositions of expository and narrative essays, debate, web research and storytelling—that are astutely arranged to challenge students' active mental participation and cogent articulation. For an advanced Chinese language class, this is the textbook of my choice."—Madeline Chu, professor of Chinese language & literature, Kalamazoo College
About the Author
Zu-yan Chen is a professor of Chinese language and literature and director of the Confucius Institute at Binghamton University, SUNY. He is the co-author of Li Bai and Du Fu: An Advanced Reader of Chinese Language and Literature and Chinese through Song.
